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Opelousas extends agreement with CLECO for 10 years

CLECO, according to terms of the agreement discussed at the meeting, will pay the city $1.3 million annually to provide electricity for residential and commercial customers. The renewal will last through 2031.

The Opelousas Board of Alderman unanimously voted to grant a 10-year franchise agreement extension to the Central Louisiana Electric Company, which provides electricity to the city.

CLECO, according to terms of the agreement discussed at the meeting, will pay the city $1.3 million annually to provide electricity for residential and commercial customers. The renewal will last through 2031.

City voters first selected CLECO over SLEMCO in a 1989 referendum to become the electrical provider for Opelousas. Since then, the franchise agreement between the city and CLECO has been renewed three times.

Through the vote, Mayor Julius Alsandor is authorized to sign the agreement, which goes into effect Aug. 11, 2021.

According to the extension agreement signed between city government and CLECO in 2011, the franchise agreement would have been renewed automatically for another 10 years unless the board gave CLECO written notice before Aug. 11.

Before voting on the extension proposal, several residents told the board they were being charged too much for electricity.

“They (CLECO) are getting over on you. I really don’t care how much they have helped the city. You need to find someone else,” said Wilbert Levier, a south Opelousas resident who is also a CLECO customer and city employee.

Several people who spoke during the meeting said CLECO’s utility rates, which they claimed have risen to $400 monthly in some cases, are a burden on the city’s poor and retirees who are living on fixed income.

Paul Gennuso, a CLECO customer, told the board they and other city officials have failed to look elsewhere for other electrical providers that might have less expensive monthly rates.

Gennuso also blamed city government and the board for waiting until several weeks before the agreement was set to automatically renew before discussing it.

“You were aware that this was coming up,” he said. "There are others (companies) out there to look at and might have fewer complaints about the cost of their electricity."

Gennuso said the company’s rates have become inflated due to the number of charges in addition to what is charged for normal kilowatt usage.

“There’s a residential customer charge. What’s that about? In addition, there is an energy charge, a fuel charge, an environmental charge, charges for being a city customer, a storm restoration charge and an infrastructure and incremental recovery cost charge.

“Plus, from what I understand, CLECO is planning to go up another 5 percent on their bills,” said Gennuso.

No representatives from CLECO spoke during the meeting.

Loren Carriere, who operates the nonprofit Hope for Opelousas center for city youth, told the board CLECO has been helpful in helping his organization to obtain grants in order to maintain the various Hope of Opelousas facilities.

One Hope for Opelousas grant reached $50,000, Carriere said.

City Attorney Travis Broussard said the 1989 decision by Opelousas voters that originally allowed CLECO to begin providing electricity has also enabled the city to lease its utility assets and equipment to the company.

Previously, the city had been providing its own electrical power from a plant located along North Railroad Avenue.

Alsandor told the board the city had contacted both SLEMCO and Entergy to make proposals to provide electrical power, but both companies had declined. Alsandor did not indicate when those proposals to SLEMCO and Entergy were extended.

“If we had not decided to take this extension, then (the city) would have been in the position of negotiating blind for its electricity,” said Alsandor.

Broussard said changing electrical companies would have also been costly because CLECO has replaced most of the equipment used to provide electricity. CLECO now owns most of the equipment that is used to provide service.

“This is really a sophisticated and complicated process. It’s really not as simple as go and look for someone else,” said Broussard. "There’s been no one knocking at our door to provide electricity."

Broussard noted that utility rates and charged attached to customers’ bills are approved by the Public Service Commission.